Used oil filters from automotive engines are becoming increasingly difficult to dispose of. An oil filter comprises a cylindrical canister of sheet metal, in which is housed a body of fibrous filter material, held in place by a tube of thin perforated metal. At the open end of the filter is a much thicker base piece, and a rubber sealing ring.
The apparatus provided by the invention is aimed at crushing the used oil filter along its axis, whereby the thicker base piece remains flat.
The apparatus provided by the invention typically is used by a mechanic in a service station. The mechanic removes the used oil filter from the vehicle, and inserts the oil filter into the apparatus. He then operates the apparatus to crush the oil filter, in order firstly to compact the solid parts of the oil filter structure into a smaller volume, but also, just as importantly, to squeeze the dirty oil out of the filter.
A used oil filter that has been compacted to perhaps 25% or less of its height, and which has had 95% of the dirty oil squeezed out of it, becomes much less of a problem from the disposal standpoint. Such a crushed filter can be disposed of in a land-fill in many jurisdictions, whereas an uncrushed, dirty-oil-laden filter, cannot.
In fact, an apparatus which squeezes oil filters to that degree, as is the aim of the apparatus of the invention, can pay for itself from the savings in disposal costs, apart from the environmental benefits.